Product DescriptionThis follow-up to LINT, the biography of cult author Jeff Lint, delves deeper into the psychosis of the seminal writer's work. This series of essays and reviews from around the globe, representing decades of study, is being presented for the first time in collected form. A must-have for collectors, students, imitators, and stalkers alike."Satire has no effect-a mirror holds no fear for those with no shame."Contributors include Steve Aylett, Eileen Welsome, Arkhipov Halt, Daniel Guyal, Chris Diana, Alfred Bork, Michael H. Hersh, George Cane, Dennis Ofstein, and Jean-Marie Guerin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Aylett's sensibility surpasses his parody
I have to disagree with Bob B when he says Lint is funnier than this volume, and I disagree, too, as Bob B emphasizes Aylett's parody of dry critical writing as the key to making one's way about in this novel.Not only is And Your Point is? funnier, but it is a more intelligent, more mature, and larger book.Lint relies upon the devices of parody, shock and invention to build the composition, and very often the sensation produced by these devices is Aylett's endgame. In And Your Point Is?, however, Aylett's devices are more properly platforms for launching into states of a more supple and subtle rebellion--just the sort of satire he aims for in Lint but (usually) is just describing. And Your Point Is? achieves a sense of opposition that can only be taken seriously, and it is in this dimension that the novel exceeds beyond its "funny" surfaces. Politically, this is a sober book, and I leave it to the reader to take up this work and discover for his or her self what I am talking about.In this clever and sharply-drawn "sequel", Aylett is forcefully advancing ideas and effects that are as hard-hitting as anything in the English language.

And Your Point Is? by Steve Aylett
In his new anthology of critical essays, Steve Aylett presents readers with a diverse set of perspectives on both Jeff Lint's writing and the place of science fiction in American literature.Dealing in depth with several short stories, the essays chosen for inclusion in And Your Point Is? Scorn and Meaning in Jeff Lint's Fiction often emphasize the ways Lint's work questions traditional approaches to constructing a narrative and redefines the relationship between the writer and his or her audience.Offering insightful readings of this author's complex body of work, these essays never attempt to reduce Lint's stories to a single definitive message but instead provide varied and thoughtful possibilities for interpretation.

In addition to a well-rounded and highly qualified list of contributors, Steve Aylett has done a great job of choosing critical essays that analyze not only Lint's fiction but also its relationship to other works, both traditional and experimental.Characteristic of the literary criticism in And Your Point Is?, Aylett's own piece "`Rise of the Swans':Doing Bird With Jeff Lint" presents a fascinating analysis of the ways Lint anticipates and manipulates the reader's expectations of a short story.For example, Aylett writes about a short story in which a group of intelligent swans descends upon a city:"Man and swan seem in agreement on attempting to make life a bit more bearable rather than fussing about whether humanity represents the pinnacle of creation...Critics have complained that Lint's stories lack conflict - they do, in fact, conflict with every story written by everyone else" (61).Aylett observes that by toying with the reader's expectation that stories contain a conflict and resolution, Lint makes a larger statement about crafting a short story, challenging the assumption that stories follow a predetermined blueprint.Many essays in the anthology, such as "The Retrial" and "Redemption and Ordeal in Jeff Lint's `Broadway Creamatoria'" also examine the ways that Lint, in being aware of literary conventions and manipulating them, brings these same tropes under scrutiny.Reading his work as an attempt to initiate a dialogue about what constitutes a work of literary fiction, these essays are both insightful and comprehensive, consistently examining Lint's work as well as its place in a larger literary context.

Also notable is Daniel Guyal's "Give, Take, and Take:An examination of Jeff Lint's `The Crystalline Associate,'" which, like other essays in the collection, examines the infinite possible readings of one of Lint's stories and what this ambiguity adds to the text.For example, Guyal writes:"Did he regard bears as overmind puppeteers, clinical observers?A fertile area of theory is the fact that there are eleven bears, the bare eleven being two figure ones, implying that both main characters are similar pillars of salt?Or a hint that the story's reasoning is so garbled that it would read the same if it were upside down?Or are they the eleven faithful apostles, the agent a Judas, and Mary...Mary?"Arguing that the story is not only rife with potential readings, but that these possibilities present both trivial and disconcerting messages from which the reader can choose, Guyal's essay shows how the reader can plot his or her own course while reading Lint's work.Several other essays in And Your Point Is?, such as Chris Diana's "The Lintian Waiter in `Tectonic'" and Steve Aylett's "Jeff Lint's `Snail Camp'" anddeal in depth with this theme from different angles, weighing the strengths and weaknesses of this aspect of Lint's fiction with an impressive clarity and linguistic economy.

And Your Point Is? takes readers on an enjoyable, informative tour of Jeff Lint's shorter writings, offering diverse perspectives on a selection of challenging texts.Aylett's book is a great resource for Lint enthusiasts, as well as a fabulous introduction to this writer's complex body of work.Highly recommended.

Lintmania
Not as funny as Lint, this collection of critical essays about the stories and theme of Jeff Lint is collegiantly hilarious.You have had to read the dry essays while you were in school to really get some inside jokes, but you'll know they're there.Interestingly, I knew nothing about Lintmania until I heard the band 7 inch stitch who say all they're lyrics are by Jeff Lint, but they are an instrumental band.I guess we're in on the joke waiting for a punchline after the pun.
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Steve Aylett has always gone a step farther than his contemporaries. In Slaughtermatic, he pushed the limits of science fiction, and for that he was named a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award. Now, in Lint, he offers the first-ever biography of one of the great minds of our time: Jeff Lint, author of some of the strangest and most inventive satirical SF of the late twentieth century. Lint transcended genre in classics such as Jelly Result and The Stupid Conversation, becoming a cult figure and pariah. Like his contemporary Philip K. Dick, he was "blithely ahead of his time." Aylett follows Lint through his Beat days, his immersion in pulp SF, psychedelia, and resentment, his disastrous scripts for Star Trek and Patton, and his belated Hollywood success in the 1990s. It was a career haunted by death, including the undetected death of his agent; the controversial death of his rival, Herzog; and the unshakable "Lint is dead" rumors, which persisted even after his death. This hilarious mock biography is outrageous and remarkably funny, Aylett is an Evelyn Waugh for our time.

My Book of the Year
There is something inherently delightful about the fake author, the fake biography. Why would this be? Possibly the fact that there are always too few great authors in one's own life? I always loved Kilgore Trout, and Philip Jose Farmer's single Trout novel, VENUS ON THE HALF SHELL, opened up a whole new concept to my youthful brain -- real books by people who don't exist.

LINT, Steve Aylett's bio-homage to the too-little-known sci-fi hack genius Jeff Lint, takes that concept to a whole nother dimension. It was by far the funniest and best book I read in 2009. I ordered half a dozen copies to give away this past Christmas. Almost gave away my copy too! Oops!

Okay, specifics: LINT, like most of Steve Aylett's books, is satire. (His fantasy novel FAIN THE SORCERER is also a great one). In this case a satire on science fiction, on publishing, on its cult authors. Jeff Lint has a large element of Philip K. Dick in him -- Dick's life was pretty damned whacky, and Aylett cranks that up a few notches for Jeff Lint. (I've recently picked up a similar project, THE CARDBOARD UNIVERSE, but so far it isn't nearly as funny/clever/outrageous as LINT.)

I won't spoil the actual book by detailing the plot. It's a fake biography. You'll laugh till you puke. And once you've read it and wish for more, there's a great book of fake academic/literary essays on Lint's nonexistent short fiction, AND YOUR POINT IS?, as well as a single issue of Lint's infamous comic book catastrophe, THE CATERER.

Lest I forget to say so, LINT is (IMHO) the best example extant of Bizarro fiction, which is a whole nother conversation, but one you ought to have if you like this kinda stuff. I do. Google Bizarro. Carlton Mellick is wonderful, and I'm really fond of Jeff Burk's SHATNERQUAKE. (Look it up. Wow. LOL.)

There are also various web sites, Youtube videos, etc., devoted to the greatness that is Jeff Lint. Donny Bob says check it out.

review
The little bags are so cute.They were added onto a gift, to a family member who had asked for gift bags as a present.They were quite the hit of the party!!!

Steve pulled the wool over my eyes, and I liked it!
I stumbled across this tome at my local library, and remembering "Slaughtermatic" as a noteworthy word orgy, I tossed it in my sack. Stuck at work I read the whole thing in one sitting... And rabidly left in search of Lint! Crestfallen after realising that I was duped, I sat and stared at the wall for awhile in a state of denial. Slowly it did wear off, and my groans turned to giggles and then maniacal laughter! I'm going to pass this onto my friends and see how long it takes those poor [...] to figure it out, thanks Steve!

Good Aylett but leaves room for improvement
I noticed that parts of Jeff Lint's life mirrored that of William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, and Philip K. Dick.If I knew about the lives of more famous authors, I am sure I would have noticed their lives reflected in Aylett's Lint as well.The book is full of Aylettisms (he shows no sign of running out of them or using second class material).Most of the anectotes about Jeff Lint are somewhere beyond zany, ridiculous and pathetic.The book is not as funny as Bigot Hall, and not as ingenious as Crime Studio (but it comes close).

In terms of positive issues, the creation of Lint fan-websites is just beautiful.Also, the block of text from the Star Trek script is priceless.Best of all is the realization of several panels of The Caterer.I think that Aylett should team up with a comic illustrator and do the actual comic in its full 9 issue run.Goodness knows it would be better than 99% of comics out there today.

In terms of the negative issues, the main one is that in Lint we glimps what could have been.All of the verbal and written quotes are in Aylettese regardless of the whether the quote is from Lint, his manager, book publishers, or critics.In some places this works.However, I can't help thinking that the book could have been twice as funny if the only person who acted and spoke in Aylettese was Jeff Lint.If the other characters were portrayed as doing and saying things that real people in the real world would have done in reaction to a real Jeff Lint, the contrast would have really brought more punch to the material. I think it would have been a much more "wild" book if it had mundane human reactions to Lint's insanity.With this change, the book could have passed as a real biography rather than as an obvious Aylett escapade.If he rewrites it with typical biographical quotes from publishers, managers, etc. I would buy the book a second time.

Aylett versus the Real World
Steve Aylett's earlier writing created worlds like the guns-blazing city of Beerlight (seen in 'Slaughtermatic'), where crime is the only remaining art... and more recently Accomplice, in which demons with "wet anvil heads" play out a farce of corruption for one idiot's soul (in 'Only An Alligator').With his latest, Aylett finally turns his attention to our so-called `real' world:a biography of cult science fiction author Jeff Lint.

Like Philip K. Dick, but without any of the lingering credibility, Lint shows the kind of obscure career that inspires an obsessive following.Aylett traces Lint's early satiric sci-fi like 'Jelly Result' and 'I Blame Ferns' and the subsequent literary run-ins with Burroughs, Kerouac, and other big names of the counterculture.(In fact, Lint may have only first been published due to his pen name `Isaac Asimov.')Lint's forays into other media included his attempt at two-fisted comic book action in 'The Caterer', a hilariously misjudged and never-filmed script for the original Star Trek, and the inexplicably terrifying children's show, 'Catty and the Major'.

Aylett and Lint share the same "claymore principle of creation":pack more ideas per page then seem possible, cover your ears, detonate, and see how many impact on the reader.Lint is an incredibly dense read.It never sits still, but you'll want to read it slowly, for fear of missing another perfect epigram or odd non-sequitur.(There's a handy appendix of Lint quotations in the back, in case you missed them the first time round, and want to confuse guests at your next dinner party.)

Lint said that "...satire was like scrubbing tombstones with a toothbrush, but honourable nevertheless."Luckily, Aylett balances his pyrotechnic wordplay with a genuine sense of affection.In the end, it's the story of a man whose works touched many - even if they're not sure how, or why, or what it all meant - and the joys and frustrations of dedicated fans still today interpreting the ripples that Lint left behind.
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Set in the blood-drenched chaos of Beerlight, "a blown circuit, where to kill a man was less a murder than a mannerism," Dante Cubit and his pill-popping sidekick, the Entropy Kid, waltz into First National Bank with some serious attitude and a couple of snub guns. Murderous, trigger-happy cops, led by the doughnut-chomping redneck police chief, arrive in force, firing indiscriminately into the crowd gathered outside. Surrender or capture is out of the question. Dante's beloved, the murderous assassin Rosa Control — packing a not-so-small arsenal — prowls the streets, trying to engineer her man's escape. Will Dante slip past the forces of corruption and disorder to join his Rosa? What happens next is a tangled mess of reality and virtual reality.

Amazon.com ReviewSteve Aylett's Slaughtermatic is enacted in a parodic, cyberpunk world in which crime has become an individualistic and self-evolutionary art. Dante, the protagonist, plans to rob a bank with the help of Download Jones, a human meat puppet whose personality is live on the Net, and Kid Entropy, whose Kafkacell weapon bonds with his psyche to produce a suicide-wannabe who can only kill others. With the vault scan code in his pocket, Dante is duplicated in a time shift that puts him virtually ahead of the actual event--and able to enter the vault undetected. His crime and the action-filled plot become complicated when his second self, Dante Two, refuses to sacrifice himself as planned, murderous Brute Parker is set on Dante's trail, and Rosa Control takes matters into her own razor-bladed hands. Into the melee steps Eddie Gamete, the presumed-dead postmodern prankster-philosopher, Dante's only hero and the author of The Impossible Plot of Biff Barbanel, a book no reader can survive. Expectations about what and who is real change like television channels in Dante's world, where fates much worse than death await. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Brilliantly Written
Self-consciously clever, crazy original, and exploding with style, Slaughtermatic is an intense read that kept me grinning throughout; at least, when I wasn't rubbing my poor dumb head - I'm not ashamed to admit that I would have enjoyed this book even more if I had been smarter and/or more educated. It's filled with rapid-fire metaphors and concepts that can get to be pretty overwhelming if you're not blessed with a high IQ and a decent attention span, but the struggle is worth it because it's a damn good read. The ideas are presented with such copious style that it's a joy to read each page. Aylett seems to put as much thought into most sentences as a lesser author would put into an entire novel.

The characters, although barely necessary in a book so brimming with style as this, are interesting, and the dialog is always a treat to read - just don't expect anything resembling real-life exchanges. The plot, also only semi-crucial, is occasionally meandering but ultimately satisfying. But again, the real star here is the writing itself, and if you can enjoy writing for writing, you'll love this book.

Slice and Dice, Baby
This author slice and dices through the English language, rips apart old cliches and idioms.Almost every sentence is a joke, and it can be jarring at times.However, Aylett gives us such a fresh perspective on the language of death and destruction that it makes Slaughtermatic a must read for anyone looking for something original.I hope to see more come from this author.

Diagnosis Confirmed
Aylett is beyond the help of modern mental health treatment. Classifying this book is likewise beyond the existing definitions of literary genres.

If you are easily shocked - don't even think of touching it much less reading it (it might rub off).
If you can't stand blood & gore - hide your eyes and plug your ears.
If you like a tidy beginning, middle and end in your reading - try Dickens instead.

If you're as crazy as I am - READ THIS BOOK (and hope for a sequel). Why not 5 stars, then? It isn't perfect, but it is fun, funny & well worth reading.

A Guilty Pleasure
I enjoyed reading this short book, but afterwards I had that guilty feeling I used to get after seeing a gory B movie.... It was fun, but I don't really want to admit to anyone that I enjoyed it.The story itself is a bit confusing and choppy, but there is enough entertainment on each page to keep you reading.

As a matter of fact, this book contains some of the best sentences ever written. Here's a couple of my personal fav's...

"He had a big soul which he sold by the hour."

"Father died in a voting accident."

...and my personal favorite sentence in the whole book...

"A convict in transit convinced the cop to whom he was handcuffed that the cop was the guiltier man, at which the cop shot him and escaped."

That one had me laughing for hours.
It's little jewels like this that kept me reading.

Fun times, but what is this book about again?
Written very stylistically, like a faster paced mix of Burroughs and Stephenson.Hilareous black comedy in this city of Beerlight where crime is art but it may or may not be virtual reality.

The cop Blince is a character no doubt, and the time travel wackiness of Dante one and Two is gripping.But there is just so much going on in these short 150 pages that it is very difficult to follow what's going on.I guess that's the cyberpunk syle, but this takes it a bit far.Information overload to the tenth degree here.

I'm giving it three stars even though Slaughtermatic is an incredible read.I know its well written, it is just unfortunate that I'm not too sure what the book is about.I'll have to try and read it a second time and maybe my opinion will change.

Product DescriptionThere's a new genre rising from the underground. Its name: BIZARRO. For years, readers have been asking for a category of fiction dedicated to the weird, crazy, cult side of storytelling that has become a staple in the film industry (with directors such as David Lynch, Takashi Miike, Tim Burton, and even Lloyd Kaufman) but has been largely ignored in the literary world, until now. The Bizarro Starter Kit features short novels and story collections by ten of the leading authors in the bizarro genre: Ray Fracalossy, Jeremy C. Shipp, Jordan Krall, Mykle Hansen, Andersen Prunty, Eckhard Gerdes, Bradley Sands, Steve Aylett, Christian TeBordo, and Tony Rauch. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Sureality
I picked up the Bizarro Starter kit, both Blue and Orange, at the recommendation of a friend who has written bizarro and felt that these two books were excellent primers on this genre.I have not read the orange yet but am looking forward to it.I have read one full length bizarro novel by Andre Duza and another short story by Carlton Melick III, both related to zombies, but little else.I have read a wide array of unique and strange fiction throughout my life, but bizarro is certainly in a class by itself.

A definition, or rather, definitions of bizarro appear at the beginning of this book, so I won't attempt to expand on them.What I can say is that based on the ten different authors, all with very unique stories, is that bizarro is not just the genre of the weird-it is a genre that allows us to step alternately into worlds of the surreal, humorous, and horrific, sometimes all at the same time.Every story in this book was stylistically different than the rest-there was no solidifying theme running through the book.They challenged me as a reader to keep up with what the author was creating at every step.It seems that in a bizarro story, things can turn dramatically on a single sentence, even when some elements are used repetitively to bring a point across.This is not a genre to hop into assuming that you will be able to relax and casually blur over certain passages and retain full comprehension of what is going on.

I won't lie and say that I "got" it with every story written here, but I was entertained by most of these efforts, amused, repulsed, and intrigued, which means that these stories kept my interest, even if I wasn't sure of the exact path that I was being led down by each author.

Fiction like cult films
If you have ever felt that the books you read are too boring, too mainstream, not weird enough and not fun enough to read, or if you think authors in general just take themselves way too seriously, then you should try bizarro fiction.Bizarro is like literature's equivalent to the cult section of your video store.They are absurd, surreal, funny, gory, over the top craziness.

If you are a fan of cult films you should definitely check this genre out.If you are expecting experimental/subversive "literary" fiction then look elsewhere, because these stories are more cinematic than they are literary.These authors weren't inspired by William Faulkner or James Joyce, they were inspired by movies such as Time Bandits, Pink Flamingos, Videodrome, Six String Samurai, Brazil, Eraserhead, Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Conspirators of Pleasure, The Toxic Avenger... (the list goes on).

There is much variety in this genre.Some authors write darker surreal works, some write very comical campy/pulpy fiction.Some bizarro is intellectually stimulating art, some of it is just for entertainment value alone.It's all very weird but each author is weird in their own way.Check out all of the Bizarro Starter Kits to introduce yourselves to some of the top bizarro authors working in the scene.

I recommend this to people who always preferred movies to books because they thought always though books were supposed to be boring.

An Eclectic but Solid Introduction
This is a good combination of Bizarro elements. It goes from the extreme, trippy experimentation of Steve Aylett to the absurd and funny but more restrained style of Andersen Prunty. Bradley Sands' Cheesequake Smashup is worth the price of admission by itself. Humorous, thought provoking, dirty, funny and challenging. It's everything good fiction should be.

Introduction or What is this Book?
The first "Bizarro Start Kit" (colored orange) was an instrumental book in introducing bizarro to a wider audience.Combining eight of the top bizarro writers into one volume, it was responsible for hooking many readers (this reviewer included) on these strange new authors.This year, Eraserhead Press, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and Afterbith Books have combined forces yet again to give us "The Bizarro Start (blue)."
This time we have ten different authors contributing novellas and short stories for our reading pleasure.Due to the nature of this book, let's look at each writer individually.

The Authors

Ray Fracalossy
Fracalossy starts off the volume with twelve short shorts characterized by word-play and a strong sense of fun.These stories start the book off right, getting the reader into a strange and logically-loopy frame of mind."A Body in Motion" is the stand-out piece in which a man's body rebels in some rather creative manners.

Jeremy C. Shipp
"Flapjack" is a novella about two men in a prison with one recounting the strange tale of how he got there.The story floats along with dream-like logic as Shipp creates new language and cultural customs.The main-character narrates with a sense of innocence and an ever present shadow of darkness.Tim Burton would be right at home directing an adaptation of this story.

Jordan Krall
Krall contributes "The Longheads," the middle novella from his collection "Squid Pulp Blues."The Longheads from the title are disfigured war vets that have some sinister plans for a small town.Meant to be read as a middle piece between two related novellas, "The Longheads" feels underdeveloped on its own.While Krall is a strong writer, one wishes he had submitted something more stand-alone appropriate for this collection.

Mykle Hansen
"Monster C*cks!" is the attention grabbing title to this contribution.It is a novella about a man who gets much more than he bargained for from a penis-enlargement system that actually works.Hansen tells a funny and thrilling story that in the hands of a lesser writer would just be juvenile.Instead, the reader receives an engaging tale that gets inside the head, and pants, of the main character.

Andersen Prunty
Shell is a sort-of bounty hunter, hired by The Rotting Man to go to Hollow City and bring back a woman named Pearl.So begins the surreal/horror/noir novella "The Devastated Insides of Hollow City."Prunty has a talent for writing dark and enthralling tales and this is no exception.For horror fans, this is the stand-out piece of the collection.

Eckhard Gerdes
"Nin and Nan" is the exceptionally strange offering from Gerdes.Nin and Nan live on top of a hill and when billboards and roads start to impede upon their space they are forced to take action.From there, they embark on a journey that takes them to the very top powers of the government.Those crazing the extremely bizarre will be sated with this story.

Bradley Sands
"Cheesequake Smash-Up" is the story of a place where buildings have the ability to levitate.To determine which fast-food franchise will monopolize the market, a race is being held with the structures themselves being used as vehicles.Sands has created a tale even weirder than the previous two sentences suggest.He easily wins the award for strangest, balls-to-the-wall weirdo-fest.

Steve Aylett
"Shamanspace" is the meta-physical offering that Aylett gives us.Dealing with the role of history, books, and self it is a complex and dense tale.Including a brief history of the story's world and a fictional bibliography, this is the most experimental story of the collection.

Christian Tebordo
"The Order of Operations" is the story of several people whose lives intersect around a common payphone.In a book filled with outlandish concepts, Tebordo's story stands out as it is mostly based in reality.Where it is unique is in its presentation, skipping back and forth between several perspectives.This one is for the more literary-minded readers.

Tony Rauch
Rauch finishes the collection with seven short stories.The reoccurring theme of his pieces is how the average person is suppressed and crushed by the weight of the world.Of course, this is told via miniature people in ant costumes and cranium enlargement.This selection of stories is a thoughtful final contribution to the book.

Final Thoughts
One could call this the second generation of Bizarro writers.They are a group of writers that are influenced by many authors contained in the first starter kit.What is most exciting is these authors, while influenced by, are not rip-offs of the first line of writers.Each of the eight authors contained within stand on their own as writers.With the shear amount of variety present here, any fan of weird fiction will find something they can love.

Introduction into the world of Bizarro
With an introduction into the world of Bizarro, the Starter Kits intitiates with extreme prejudice. Daring you to dive head-first into this world of stunning imagery without the exclamation point, because the subderal hematoma induced walking stage-fright dreams hold sway and what you think is real truly is. Bizarro as a genre is coming in to its own. So jump on board and don't get left behind. There's something waiting that might just eat you, my pretty. Jordan Krall's 'Longheads' stands out. I also really ate the hell out of Andersen Prunty's "Devastaed Insides of Hollow City".
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Product DescriptionThe new Beerlight novel features the hunt for a missing brain, a plot that only a writer as benevolently unhinged as Steve Aylett could turn into an entertainment. Beerlight is nightmare city of the future (albeit a future that may be only a week away) where violence is the new art form and artists are the only people with regular jobs. In a cartoon landscape, larger-than-life characters act out plots that would be rejected by Hollywood for being too over the top, yet which still carry a serious message about violence in society. This is satire at its most vicious and most pure. Jonathan Swift would understand Beerlight.Amazon.com ReviewTake the guys and dolls of Damon Runyon's gangster fairy tales, the hyperbolic criminals of Chester A. Gould's comic strip "Dick Tracy," the unflappable antiheroes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, and the wise-guy paranoiacs from the fiction of William Burroughs, run them through a genetic shredder, then glue the remains back together in the dark using alien DNA, and the result might resemble Steve Aylett's dizzying, dazzling, and ultimately wearying novel, Atom.

The author of five previous novels--including Slaughtermatic, a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award--Aylett writes like Robin Williams does improv: at an ever-accelerating rate. Atom is set in the noirish city of Beerlight, where the brain of Franz Kafka is sought by a cast of seedy characters with monikers like Nada Neck, Flea Lonza, and Eddie Thermidor. Private dick Taffy Atom matches wits and weapons with this misbegotten crew in a plot as convoluted as it is beside the point. What matters here is language. Aylett's hyperkinetic, magpie style sparkles with baubles of pop culture and jokes so inside they may never before have seen the light of day. Following in the slipstream of his chaotic, often inspired inventiveness makes for an exhilarating read. But alas, an exhausting one. In the end, Aylett's bravura yet one-note performance lacks a nucleus strong enough to hold readers in their orbits. --Emerson Cooper ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A Montage of Lost Acid Dreams Wrapped in Brain Tissue
The are two ways to look at this book, either of them will leave you with a headache.You might actually be able to make more sense out of this book if you read it back to front.The plot, if there is one, is a Maltese Falconesque brain of Franz Kafka which everyone wants.Two characters here represent Sidney Greenstreet (The Candyman) and Peter Lorre (Thermidor).

Everyone else is along for the laughs, if you can find them. The book appears to be written in one continuous session like "On the Road" without all of the beatnik mystique.It reads like an acid-trip with a speed chaser.What it's suppose to be is the bottom line question.Though it would warm the heart of any 50s 'nouveau roman' writer or semi- practicing Dadaist.

Take two beers, hit yourself on the head, and don't sleep for three days and you should be able write something better than this. If you can't, finish the six pack and go to bed.

Bleck
I thought I was a pretty open-minded person a couple of years ago, but I either never was, or I have become less so in my older age."Atom" by Steve Aylett really put my senses to the test, however.

This book, after just a few pages in, seems more like a joke on the reader than a novel.It almost reads like a Burroughs opium nightmare about a private eye, or a Gertrude Stein poem about one.There is no plot and even a nonlinear thinker will become lost amid the electron-induced battling plotlines.

I could be wrong, I hope I am, but I have a feeling that the people who loved this book and gave it excellent reviews were just not up to the task of admitting it didn't make much sense.

Dizzying--But Worth Trying
This wildly kinetic work of avant-garde sci-fi might be best described as "extreme improv writing" with loads of linguistic convolutions and pyrotechnics that are the end unto themselves. The story, such as it is, is populated by a P.I. and a bunch of outrageous gangsters racing to recover Kafka's stolen brain.Or at least, I think that's the gist of it... the wordplay moves so quickly and violently in building images up and tearing them down that it's hard to keep track of what's actually going on. Everyone speaks with over-the-top verbal tics and sarcasm. The imagery one gets is sort of a near future Maltese Falcon orKiss Me Deadly but with decidedly odder weapons and setting. The inventiveness in language and imagery is truly impressive, check out my favourite passage: "Like most flux technology, theSyndication bomb hinged on a cheap but ingenious trick. Rather than actually stripping the subtext from the blast site, it converted the wave range into a living Updike novel, the subtext containing information everyone already knew--the end result was a shallow reality in which every move was a statement of the obvious." As this passage tells you, there are inside jokes by the barrelloads here, and if you don't get one, don't bother to re-read, because there's sure to be another on the next page. After awhile, this hyperkinetic slapsticky style gets wearying, and the lack of story starts to show through. Still, worth checking out if you're looking for something unusual.

Too wild a ride for some, perhaps, but...
I found Atom truly original, laugh-out loud funny: my prediction is that Aylett will come to be recognized as one of the most interesting writers of our day. Aylett does things with the language I've never before encountered: this novel is a riotous take on Dashiell Hammett's Maltese Falcon, although anyone who's not open to an EXTREMELY raucous, funny and bizarre viewpoint need not apply. He's challenging, but not in a ponderous way: no neat plot structure, no nice, logical development...but WELL worth your money. None of the same old, same old here.

Poor outing for Aylett
After the first dozen pages of this book, try putting it down and switch instead to The Crime Studio, Bigot Hall or Slaughtermatic.The difference in quality is striking.

This book feels like it's been thrown together with little care or attention.I really enjoyed other books by Aylett, but have noticed the quality drop with each new book.Is he just running out of ideas?
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Product DescriptionBigot Hall is the nightmare home of a family most people would rather forget.Uncle Burst's belief that his face is made of pasta is one of the milder notions with which he regales the family.Uncle Snapper is confined to a treehouse because of the uncontrollable urges he feels once is gun is loaded.Uncle Blute drowned in the lake at the wheel of his Morris Traveller, where he remains perfectly preserved. And Nanny Jack refuses all efforts to bury her and strikes terror into her relatives' hearts as she abandons yet another final resting place. Throughout this happy breed strolls a nameless anti-hero, who, when not kidnapped by clowns or puzzling out the fossilised family tree, is passionately in love with his spaced-out sister, Adrienne ... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Clever too extreme
Bigot Hall is about a boy named Laughing Boy who doesn't laugh, and his insane family. They make the Adams Family look like the Beavers. They spend their time yelling at each other, attacking each other and plotting each others destruction. They also grow descendants in jars, scare the locals, play dead for days and have incestuous relations. There goes the neighborhood.

Steve Aylet is smart and funny and armed with a dangerously sharp wit. Every paragraph on every page has a chance of making you laugh or think or at least smirk. And you will do all that while reading Bigot Hall. You might also scratch your head a few times.

Bigot Hall might be too clever for it's own good. There is a lot to take in for a story with so little plot. I found myself having to reread certain sections trying to figure out what Aylett was saying. Other times I would catch a glimpse of meaning as it went sailing over my head.

Some of Bigot Hall is very good and it has it's share of laugh out loud moments. If you are looking for something bursting with cleverness and total absurdity then Bigot Hall is it. If you want something easier to read with a more compelling story then maybe it's not.

Welcome to Steve Aylett.
This book will make you laugh, because it is very, very funny.I firmly believe this.

The comparison to In God We Trust
is excellent.Imagine Jean Shephard's childhood with the surrealistic slant of alien boarders, living dead relatives, incestuous daydreams. Yes, you will shoot your eye out.

Wacky
I laughed out loud many times when reading this.I became a huge Steve Aylett fan after reading Slaughtermatic and this collection of stories certainly doesn't disappoint.The episodes with Roger Lang and in general anytime Snap and the Verger get together are hilarious.

I spent the first few pages of this book alternating between offense and amusement. After a while, it hit me that I hadn't laughed out loud this many times per page at any book in quite a while, so I dropped the offense.

Imagine In God We Trust - All Others Pay Cash (the book that inspired the classic film A Christmas Story) jacked up on PCP and going on a crime spree and you have Bigot Hall, Steve Aylett's impressionist biography of hands down the most interesting family in all of literature. The narrator, a nameless adolescent called "laughing boy" by friends and family alike, turns his jaundiced eye upon most every family member and lodger at the family's country estate, a living (or at the very least highly unstable, from a dimensional perspective) mansion known as Bigot Hall. Amidst the witty repartee (and this would make a good handbook for those who like to find stultifyingly obtuse .sig files) these rather twisted characters come to life quite nicely, to the point where one can almost believe some of the book's most outrageous moments. I won't spoil them for you, you'll have to read it yourself, but let's just say Aylett pulled off a pretty nice chunk of real estate in making the Verger's predicament seem not only plausible, but completely in line with the rest of the doings about him.

As with all books of the "selected glimpses of life" genre, there's no plot here, so the book must rely on nothing but character development to succeed, and it does so quite nicely. It's also choke-on-your-manacles funny from beginning to end. ****
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Reminiscent of Jack Vance's Cugel tales
Twenty-three chapters or mini-tales recount how Fain the Gardener becomes Fain the Sorcerer--although even Fain is never sure how or when. Fain is not as clever as he thinks but he's overall lucky, as he walks, plummets, teleports, and otherwise enters a series of bizarre situations and encounters kings, sorcerers, and supernatural beings with strange obsessions (one of which tends to be killing Fain). The book is structured around clever new twists on the three wishes and another old theme--to reveal that here would be a spoiler. A sardonic sense of humor renders the atmosphere Vance-like, especially after Fain is bound by a geas that forbids him to lie and remain alive.
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Product DescriptionIn Steve Aylett's irreverent world, crime is the last innovative art form. Lawyers drop in by parachute, gun shops stay open all night, and bulletproof underwear is the rage. Hip, smart, outrageous, The Crime Studio was praised by The Guardian as a distressingly brilliant debut.Amazon.com ReviewThe gleeful noir mayhem continues in slacker satirist SteveAylett's collection The Crime Studio (actually his first book, but released in America after Slaughtermatic,Toxicology, and Atom).The writing in The CrimeStudio is slightly less fevered than we're used to from Aylett, and the hyper-Chandlerian metaphors aren't pushed sofar that they're humorous for the wrong reason; but the stories are just as punk-rock fast and short (few of the 27interrelated stories are longer than five pages, and some are shorter).

The Crime Studio is packaged as science fiction, but little in the book fits that genre, unless the labelrefers to the fantastically cartoony ultraviolence or the surreal improbability of Aylett's imaginary city. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

No Lite Beer in Beerlight
Prescription from Aylett: Get a gun (24/7); get some donuts; blow a safe; kill some friends; send your Mom to jail. Repeat as necessary.

This is a "post-" everything romp where people you don't ever want to meet do things you never want to do while you're falling on the floor laughing - and getting out of the line of fire. Aylett's characters are a Who's Who of the... well, let's just say anti-social type.

The Crime Studio is an escape from the ordinary world taken to extremes. I recommend this book to anyone (except those who are borderline anything).

The Crime Studio
A book that is lunatic, frenzied, savage & hilarious!
If you're very stiff & stuffy, you won't like this.
But, if you can appreciate a Chief Of Police whose only effective tool in fighting crime is to open a window and scream, in a tortured voice: "LEMMIE ALONE, BASTARDS!!", you might like this book.

Almost as good as Bigot Hall!
I enjoyed the stories in Crime Studio b/c of Aylett's flip and hilarious prose. Lots of surprisingly funny bits contained, and Brute Parker has become one of my favorite fiction characters.

Surreal, crime-noir stories
This is a group of interconnected short stories that introduce the denizens of a town called Beerlight. 'Tis a very strange place.

Tony Endless had gotten a job working for a local pest exterminator. On his first job, he took out the firearms carried by everyone in Beerlight and wiped out the dog, cat and aquarium in the house, not realizing that they were ot the pests in question. Word got around town, and now Tony has a business breaking into houses at night, quietly removing pets that the owners want gone, and, just as quietly, giving them to owners that do want them.

Ben Stalkeye and chance don't go together very well. The strangest and most unlikely things would happen, only on the condition that he didn't want them to happen. This presented problems for his criminal career. Joe Solitary loved the feeling that came from being the subject of false accusation and did everything possible to be arrested and jailed for crimes in which he was not involved at all. He would go to the police station all the time and confess to anything and everything.

In a place where paranoia is a part of daily life, Carl Overchoke had gone back for seconds and thirds. One day, he is told that "they" are on to him. Carl is an average guy who suddenly feels very important. He starts acting more self-assured, almost like a big shot, seeing spies everywhere, and eventually does gain the notice of the police. Jesse downtime didn't know how to rob anyone, so he experimented with smaller and smaller thefts. He tore the stalk from an apple at the local deli. He broke into the state zoo at night to steal an ant, then return it to the authorities. He would bump into people on the street, acquiring dozens of their atoms without suspicion. After his release, his thievery was refined to such a point that it occurred only in his mind(...)
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Product DescriptionIn the constant apocalypse nobody cares if your skull is made of wood or your friends are flying ants. Corrosive phantoms are two-a-penny in such a high-res environment. Minotaur Babs improves the shining hour by snogging horses and has a style pedal attached to his arm so he can punch people in the manner of various celebrities. A basement of whispering apes is the source of all wisdom. Bob is propelled through a hull door with only a parachute between him and the slamming palm of god. Placid vampires suggest shapeless and impractical management policies. But how much of the narrator's vortical tale is designed to annoy Eddie and waste his time? A volley of poetic stand-up, this intense splurge contains some of the most unnerving excuses in print, all a-scramble with phosphene electricity and casual resentment. You will emerge from this revised edition glowing like a dashboard saint. ... Read more

Some stories in this new collection take place in Beerlight, the city of heroic criminals and villainous cops Steve Aylett introduced in Slaughtermatic. Others are set in unique worlds, creations of Aylett's twisted vision and sardonic sense of humor. "If Armstrong Was Interesting" is a series of scenarios imagining how the American hero might have jazzed up his voyage to the moon. In "Gigantic," corpses rain from the sky as payback for the massacres of our century.

Amazon.com ReviewSmartass slacker satirist Steve Aylett follows up his debut novel, Slaughtermatic, with Toxicology, an equally scathing collection of 20 short (often short-short) stories, eight original and 12 reprinted (mostly from British publications like TechnoPagan, Crime Time, and Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll). Some of the stories share settings and characters with Slaughtermatic. All the stories are bursts of ferocious energy, fast and furious as punk-rock songs and about as subtle. The plotting is not complex (sometimes it's little more than the setup for an O. Henry twist), but the ideas are clever, the anger is justified, the prose is imaginative, and the dialogue is sharp (though the hard-boiled metaphors are occasionally overcooked to incomprehensibility). Toxicology is a potent, poisonous, post-cyberpunk cocktail of ultraviolence and outrage with a splash of Burroughs, a dash of Ballard, and a twist of Dick.

Three quick tastes: In "Gigantic," the media turns an astrophysicist forewarned of alien invasion into just another crackpot tabloid-TV guest. In "Tail," a hyper-Chandlerian PI follows a suspicious fiancé through a surreal cityscape. And in "The Passenger," a musician attempts to make his unknown band famous via a performance-art plane crash. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A pioneer of slipstream fiction
Aylett encounters the same obstacles a Burroughs or Ballard did: if you're pushing the envelope, you're bound to confound dullards.... I guarantee you've never read work like this: and if you don't prejudge it, you WILLfind it hilarious. Evelyn Waugh for the 21st century. A souped-up BruceSterling. Yum. Worth a few bucks for the ride.

It will leave no impression...if you're a corpse!
True, if you're looking for Isaac Asimov, this won't be your bag. But if you're openminded... Aylett is a raucous, un-pigeonholeable wildman whose work is amazingly funny. An in-your-face series of rants and bizarre fantasies. I don't see how anyone can read "If Armstrong WasInteresting" without laughing out loud: I read a passage to somefriends on the street and we could barely walk we laughed so hard.

They leave no impression...only if you're a corpse!
True, if you're looking for Isaac Asimov, this won't be your bag. But if you're openminded...Aylett is a raucous, un-pigeonholeable wildman whose work is amazingly funny. An in-your-face series of rants and bizarrefantasies. I don't see how anyone can read "If Armstrong WasInteresting" without laughing out loud: I read a passage to somefriends on the street and we could barely walk we laughed so hard.

These stories will leave no impression on you.
One decent story, following by 19 bad ones.A diarrhea of artful words and images; a constipation of plot and characterization.
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Product DescriptionUndermined by creep channels, home to soul-eating demons bored by their bland diet, the last resting place of the frayed and venerable Moral Fibre, Accomplice is a city like no other. Only Steve Aylett's extraordinary imagination could have created it, only his prose could have brought it to such frankly bizarre life. Accomplice is where William Burroughs would have dragged Alice to once he'd kidnapped her from Wonderland. It is thought provoking and satiric, always odd in ways that only real life can match. In the foreground is the feud between Sweeney, a demon, and Barny, a preoccupied innocent who has inadvertently become Sweeney's nemesis. Barny's immediate circle of friends and co-workers live lives of constantly grotesque scrapes on the bizarre streets of Accomplice.Other characters include Plantin Edge, Beltane Carom, Dietrich Hmmerwire, Golden Sid, Rakeman and doomed Eddie Gallo. More mystical are Accomplice's resident superheroes; the Rip and Dungboy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don't unravel them- your ears were meant to be that way.
I just finished this last night so I'm still a little dizzy.Only An Alligator is similar to Aylett's Beerlight books and other works in the same way a safety pin is similar to a cannonball.Both are quite capable of puncturing the skin given the proper circumstances.

You will find the same odd linguistic gymnastic constructions, bizarre characters, unlikely and impossible plots, sub-plots, and sub-sub-plots.Aylett has full command of some of the strangest metaphors, similes, and general descriptors you will find anywhere in modern literature.(Is this literature?It is too artsy for pop culture so it must be so!)But Accomplice, the city/dimensional setting of Only An Alligator and presumably the other Accomplice books, is by far more surreal than even the strangest dark etheric alley corner of Beerlight.Floor lobsters, demons, wild cheetah pets, the pig servant/round one, a book about dogs, 800 eels, a political battle, and a savage kick in the family jewels are just a few of the threads woven into this odd little book.

If you are a fan of Aylett's other work, you will probably enjoy this as well.If you are new to Aylett, and are looking into dabbling into the weird proto-meta-fiction he creates, you should probably start with one of his more accessible works (i.e. Atom or The Crime Studio).Once you are familiar with Aylett's unconventional style, I'd invite you come back and swim in the deep end with Accomplice; but if you dive into this one unprepared you will probably drown before the end of the second chapter.
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Product DescriptionIn the doll forge, Maquette has awoken to the flavor of wooden teeth plugs and decided to make a run for it. Barny is with Chloe Low and still hasn’t realized that, because he annoyed the demon Sweeney, he has become the motivating force for every recent atrocity in town. Gregor is gloomily considering his lifestyle. Meanwhile, Rakeman is approaching Accomplice in search of a horizontal mirror to exit shrieking. In Accomplice, paranoia is an investment. ... Read more

Product DescriptionBarny Juno. A man so desperate to rid himself of Magenta Blaze, that’s he’s willing to go to the shaman Beltane Carom for advice. Obsessed by Chloe Low, Barny doesn’t realize that the demonic insect king Sweeney is after him again—sending the demon Skittermite to “aggravate him unto death.” Using Mayor Rudloe’s latest drive towards a state of constant readiness, Skittermite plans to understand the way of things, blend in, imitate. Then the horror… ... Read more

This book is a fourth trip to Accomplice—the Wonderland of a sick Alice. As an era of Accomplice history comes to a close, the Circus of the Heart’s Shell transforms the town square into a venue for hellish clowning. Sweeney’s forces are closing in on Barny from several directions. Will Fang be reunited with his zombie family? Will Gregor survive a boxing match with the slob demon? Damnation—it takes as long as it takes.

Product DescriptionAll four of Steve Aylett's "Accomplice" books in one volume, revised, with a new Preface and an intro by Michael Moorcock. Starburst Magazine has called the books "a hugely impressive example of outrageous literary wit and uncommon good sense, demonstrating once more that Aylett is the coolest writer alive today". SFX has called them "Bizarre, innovative and utterly original". Collecting the titles Only an Alligator, The Velocity Gospel, Dummyland and Karloff's Circus, THE COMPLETE ACCOMPLICE follows the simple Barny and his friends through the intertwisted power manipulations of Accomplice, a zone where hell's defected demons discover they can never match or out-do humanity when it comes to spectacular dishonesty and evasion. "Something this rapid shouldn't be so intoxicating or so dense with ideas. It's a roaring, groaning perpetual motion machine decked out as a fun fair attraction. Read it and you'll need resuscitating" - 3:AM ... Read more

Good But Missing Something
This latest collection of Millennium City's greatest hero may be fun but it is missing something that the previous collections had.Each of the five issues collected within contain only a single story each.While the stories do manage to be fine adventure comics on their own, they do not have the cleverness of the earlier stories.It may be because the name Alan Moore is missing from the cover.But whatever the reason, while it is good reading, it could be about any hero and comic world.

In this volume, Tom Strong must discover what is behind the sudden failure of flight.Then imaginary dimensions begin to plague the city.In the third Issue Pneuman must reconcile his role with a promise made long ago.Next Tom tackles an old foe's partner.Finally Tom must face the dull reality that is his real life.In the end the reader has been entertained but not to the degree as with the earlier adventures.I hope that this will not be a continuing trend with the series.
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Product DescriptionThis digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1567 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Product DescriptionOpposing groups of occult assassins compete to exterminate God. In a multidimensional war, young gun Alix travels through sidespace to confront evil-though he risks destroying the universe.When he becomes the victim of a complex conspiracy between his closest allies and the enemy, his resolve is tested. This alchemical conspiracy adventure tackles fundamental questions about the nature of good and evil and the relationship between humans and god. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Fantastic!
I recently reread this book and loved it. I didn't like it the first time. But I felt like I was missing something and gave it another shot. I'm glad I did.

It seems like I have to be in a particular mood to enjoy an Aylett book, and this one more than the others. It's drastically different from his other work: no jokes on every page, no over the top wackiness. This is a serious book and it reads like a modernized version of an epic poem. I would really like to read another book of this kind from Aylett. The prose is marvelous.

Verbal flotsam
For the past year, I had come across Steve Aylett's name several times; it had been crossreferenced with the names of authors about whom I'm particularly avid, such as Ballard and Ellis.This prompted me to pick up SHAMANSPACE.What a bitter disappointment.It is shameful that I invested money and time in this drivel---121 pages of nothing, in BIG PRINT so that your grandmother could read it.

Even at 121 pages, in LARGE PRINT, the book is too long.

I have no problem with linguistic expansion or inventive/neologistic writing, but this is mere verbal waste: one empty, meaningless sentence follows another, with no connection between them.The surrealistic experiments (SOLUBLE FISH, THE MAGNETIC FIELDS) had a formal consistency to them; this "book" has none.In other words, it doesn't follow the logic of the world, but neither does it even have an INTERNAL LOGIC.

The prose poetry is lifeless, graceless, and bad; Alett dispenses with the usual cliches and invents his own, which are infinitely more insipid.

SHAMANSPACE resembles the "work" of Mark Leyner without the humor or occasional cleverness (I do not say this to praise Leyner, who is nearly as execrable a writer).If any good could come from this trifle, it will be an enhanced feeling of self-confidence on the part of ordinary readers who will now be emboldened to publish their laundry lists.

A complete throwaway.

Mind blowing?
If by "mind blowing" other reviewers meant that this book will make your brain want to spew chunks because it is so bad, then yes. It is mind blowing.

There is nothing unearthly, mystical, or genius about this little book. It is a collection of posturings and pseudo-poetic drivel.

There is no great imagery or prose in it. Just self-conscious phrases attempting to sound cool by being nearly completely obscure.

The book isn't worth the calories wasted by the act of picking it up.

Your brain for breakfast? Consume this one for the taste.
If you like to have intense visualizations when you read books, this book is great.At times this book reads like one giant metaphor, but it is impressive and entertaining. The orginality and creativity factor used in the writing is really high.If you like Jeff Noon, Chuck Palahniuk, and the Matrix, definitely check this book out.You'l read it, tell soemone you just got your mind blown away, tell all of your friends about it, and then read it again.Get it.

Aylett tackles eternal issues
In this mind blowing novel, Alix, a metaphysical assassin tells us about his attempt to kill God.Alix, his allies, and his opponents are all capable of moving etherealy through time and space, and this makes for some interesting action.Aylett's prose is eloquent but stripped down, so it is occasionaly hard to see what he's saying, but worth the effort.Aylett draws on a number of scientific, philosophical and spiritual traditions to create this world, and the questions that this book ispires are deep ones.The book is short and the print is large so this is a quick read.If you like books that deal with the metaphysical in an unusual way, you owe it to yourself to check this out.
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